1. Book an apartment not a hotel
The difference quite simply is having kitchen facilities that allow you to prep your own meals. While you can make healthy choices when eating out, it is a lot easier to eat throughout the day if you have your meals already prepped and ready to go.
2. Find your nearest supermarket as soon as you arrive
A follow on from the first point, this is the very first thing we do upon arrival. A good supermarket will include:
Salmon, gluten free burger patties, chicken tenderloins or a roast chicken. All of these are easy to cook and prepare. (I tend to stay away from steak, as more often than not I have set off alarms cooking these. Not a good outcome).
Washed and ready to go salads, avocado and cucumber. (Again, easy to prepare).
Plastic disposable containers.
Coffee and cream. (I actually take a coffee percolator with me every trip as I can not do without a good coffee in the morning).
Spices and butter.
3. Food prep made simple
As stated above choose certain types of proteins that are easier to cook along with salads over vegetables for the same reason.Another great tip is if you are eating out and find a good restaurant, you can then buy future meals to go from that restaurant. On my most recent trip I went to a BBQ and Grill Restaurant and after enjoying the meal so much I ordered 400g of beef brisket, 400g of pork belly and a grilled chicken to go which I was able to enjoy the next day.
4. Start the Day Right
Each day began with a nice cup of coffee and then 20 minutes of cardio in the gym. Most apartment gyms are pretty basic but they generally have some cardio equipment. Each session was 5min moderate, 10 minutes of interval, then 5 minutes of moderate to finish.
5. Modify your training to suit
Try to get in some weight training but the gym may only have DB’s to 20kg and a cable machine. No problem, all you have to do is make some adjustments and get in a great workout.
Here is what I do for Chest and Back:
- A1 Incline DB Press – If the dumbbells are rather light slow down the tempo, do 10 reps but make each one 1 ½ to the bottom and only rest 30 seconds. This is enough and it will soon get challenging.
- A2 Modify a Lat Pulldown exercise (see picture) and apply the same principle as above.
10 reps on each with only a 30 second rest in between for 6 sets.
- B1 Push Ups
- B2 Squatting Low Cable Row (see picture)
15 reps on each (again with a slow tempo) and only a 30 second rest in between each for 6 sets.
That’s it, a simple yet effective workout with minimal equipment. The same can be applied to any muscle group.
Lat Pulldown exercise
Squatting Low Cable Row
6. Invest in Business Class if possible
This one is obviously not going to suit everyone, but you should possibly consider the extra cost as an investment rather than an expense.
You can work the entire flight when travelling business class which in turn means it pays for itself. It is part of the concept of valuing your time and your worth.
If you fly economy you will be cramped, uncomfortable and usually feel horrible upon arrival and possibly for the next few days, especially if it’s a really long flight. As the saying goes, you need to enjoy the journey if you really want to enjoy the destination.
You can read all the advice you want about combating jet lag, but the only thing that really works is setting your clock to the time zone of your destination and then getting as much sleep as you can at the right time to put you in synch. For me, I need to be lying flat to get a good sleep.
